11 Comments

I didn’t get to watch most of the second half... but what I did see the area of concern is offense. Ohio state is good, but not that good. UCLA had open looks... they shot 40% from the field. That’s pretty poor. Tyger Campbell took 10 shots and made 1... he should be allowed to do that. If his support is poor, then put in the hot hands. Defense doesn’t win games by itself. You must have offense as well

Expand full comment

I mean, the Bruins really went blow for blow with Ohio State on offense. They shot 40% from the field but also took 10 more shots than their opponents because they were outworking them. The offense was efficient and was generating good looks, just missed shots.

The real difference was that Ohio State took and made more threes. It's simplified, but that's all it comes down to sometimes.

Expand full comment

Neither team shot the three well. UCLA’s three point threats didn’t really even play, so it’s good that they didn’t shoot more 3’s. Juzang is shooting 3-16 from three point this year and is a career 32.6% shooter from out there... he’s NOT a sharp shooter and I have no idea why he’s been labeled as such and is being asked to be that. He should be rotating with smith while kyman Singleton and Jules get minutes. They aren’t bad defensively and offer more threat offensively than juzang. I’m sure juzang needs time, but why not let the proven three point threats have more minutes and keep the offense running smoothly along with the defense?

Expand full comment

Bernard hasn't been hurting for minutes this season, but yeah I do wonder why Singleton and Kyman aren't seeing more minutes. Only thing I can think of was that Oho State was specifically hunting them when they were on the court, whereas Juzang is at least athletic enough to provide solid defense on the outside.

I also think Juzang is pressing and trying to justify things for himself. Seems to be a theme for a few players on the team.

Expand full comment

All I’m saying is that two of the most efficient offensive players of the night played a combined 15 minutes total while shooting 100% from the floor. On a night when UCLA needed more offense and their defense allowed the opposition to shoot 50% anyways, it makes no sense not to give those guys minutes... instead you allow tyger to go 34 minute and put up 1-10, smith to go 20 minutes at 2-8, juzang to go 31 and shoot 1-6 from three, and juaquez to go 32 and shoot 2-9? Come on... this loss is on coach for not recognizing the obvious

Expand full comment

3 of those guys combine to shoot 5-27... you gotta put in some sort of help offensively and have a chance at the game right?

Expand full comment

It's honestly hard to say because you're sacrificing defense for offense. As I said, Ohio State was hunting for those two when they were on the court, while they weren't doing that for Juzang/Smith. And those guys have a track record of being better than they've shown offensively, so it's going with the higher ceiling guys.

I don't think there's any wrong answer here, but I don't think you can really fault Cronin for riding the horses that brought him there. That's why I went with the defense as the biggest issue, because that's a systemic problem rather than a "play better" problem.

Expand full comment